Al Ruechel, Your Technology

Have you ever spotted a bug or animal and you're not quite sure what it is? We've got a way to find out, and it's just a click of the mouse away.

The name of this Web site is the Encyclopedia of Life or EOL.org.

Its goal is to catalog all 1.8 million species, and make that information available on the Internet.

The first step is to create a log in name and password for this absolutely free Web site.

Each day EOL will present an explore section with a life form, its genus species name and common name.

Each page contains an overview that’s prepared by a scientist. If you want a full blown explanation and description, move the detail bar all the way to the right. For less detail, slide the bar all the way to the left.

Now you're ready to explore. Let's try the European perch. The description of the species, the ecology, where it lives, and the temperatures it endures.

This next category is called relevance, which can include how the species is used in the food chain and its role in its ecosystem.

There is also another category called specialists projects.

These are links to actual on-going research projects involving the species. This one is called Biolib, a British project on dozens of different perch.

This site works the same for most any animal. I typed in the word lion and found nearly 100 entries -- everything from African lion to the Broadbarred firefish -- or as it's more commonly called the lion fish.

Click on the word map and you can see where the animal lives.

You'll notice that some of the entries are empty because the site, which just started about a year ago, is still filling in the blanks.

There’s another unique feature of this site. You can volunteer to become a curator to help fill in the blanks. Scientific editors will make sure all the details you provide are accurate. But essentially, this is a life encyclopedia that’s filled with information from people all over the world who actually know, see or interact with these creatures. In the world of marketing. That's called the buy in.

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